It was the GOP vs. Santa

The electionís over. Over $4 billion was spent and not much has changed. We have the same president, the same divided Congress and the same Congressional leaders. And the same issues.

To keep busy, the press is now dissecting whatís wrong with the GOP, and why we lost the election. Iím reading that we havenít kept up with changing demographics. That weíre a party clinging to the past. That itís our ideology.

I guess getting people back to work, tackling the problem of growing entitlement costs, and getting government spending under control didnít resonate with enough voters.

Out of more than 119 million votes cast, the difference was about three million, or 3 percent. Big enough to win an election, but not big enough to say thereís anything radically wrong with the GOP. We just got beat.

The most interesting thing about this election is the demographics of the voters who re-elected President Obama: Large percentages of blacks, Latinos, unmarried women and people under 30. Some say that Mr. Obamaís message resonated better with changing demographics, but the demographics of the voters who elected him is not an equal cross-section of America. Mr. Obama got 80 percent of black voters, 70 percent of Latinos, 60 percent of unmarried women and almost 60 percent of young voters.

The key question is why.

Mr. Obama used a tried-and-true approach: He brought home the bacon to his constituency. He used political giveaways to pander to a targeted electorate. He did it on a grand scale with billions in borrowed money.

During the last year-and-a-half, we rarely saw him trying to solve the problems we face in this country. No real reduction to curb government spending, not one realistic budget, not one action to shore up Medicare or Social Security, no legitimate action on immigration reform, and no real attempt to solve unemployment other than a jobs bill to add more government workers.

Among things he did do to set himself up for re-election: First, Obamacare, the promise that everyone would get health insurance. Interesting that most of it was designed to take effect after the election so people wouldnít see the higher premiums, loss of employer-provided coverage, and penalties. We heard throughout the election about free contraceptives and contraceptive services for women. No free cancer drugs or lower cost for expensive medications. No provisions to lower the overall cost of care, no increased funding to combat deadly diseases. The big thing we saw was that women got free contraceptives. Guess what voting block that was targeted for?

Tacked on to Obamacare was a bill called The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, added by Democrats as an amendment with no debate. The bill provided more funding for student loans, lowered the cost of loans, capped how much a student had to repay, and made it easier to default on. Guess what voting block this was targeted for?

During Mr. Obamaís first term, unemployment benefits were extended all four years. Through 2011, that cost is $434 billion. But he only made one attempt to put people back to work with a jobs bill. Who got the unemployment benefits? The answer lies in the unemployment rates. The overall rate is now 7.9 percent, but for blacks it is over 14 percent, for Latinos itís over 10 percent, and for people under 19 itís 24 percent. Guess who most of these folks voted for?

And then there are food stamps. Tucked away in the 2009 stimulus bill was a provision that waived the work requirement for people getting food stamps. The waiver expired in 2010, but Mr. Obama then granted waivers to 44 states, allowing them to eliminate the food stamp work requirement. The result? Between 2008 and 2010, food stamp participation doubled and the costs increased from $39 billion to $82 billion. Food stamps go to low-income families and individuals. My guess is that many of these are Democratic voters.

And then thereís immigration. Mr. Obama never put forth legislation to reform our immigration laws, but in January 2012 he put forth a waiver policy allowing illegal immigrants to apply for a waiver against deportation. Illegals can apply for a waiver and as long and they havenít committed a crime and they can get a visa to stay in the U.S. Pretty good if youíre here illegally. And guess which voter group this was targeted for?

Obama could not run on a record of accomplishment in trying to solve the nationís critical problems. He never put forth a plan or agenda for a second term other than to say he wanted to hire 100,000 more teachers, increase taxes on the wealthy, and wanted to go forward.

Instead, he ran a negative campaign painting his opponent as a bogeyman who couldnít be trusted. He ran as a benevolent Santa Claus, having dispensed billions in giveaways and added trillions to the national debt. And he got elected by an electorate that expects a government handout.

There was no way the GOP could win an election against Santa Claus.

James Malley is a resident of Barre and a retired executive who worked for Hanover Insurance in Worcester for more than 30 years.